LAMPS. "ill ~'i OTTOZ^ 'VUirutfj' —i-.^ 1—. Louse:; where gas is not laid on, '.amps must !,c used for the purpose • oi Ulnminaticn. To secure a ;;-:.o:l 1'jciit and freedom from nn i:n: lea inn': odour care in trimming lamps :.i■ ■:.t. i,c exercised,; perfunctory 1.1 a ::!ircs can only bring about these r.nde.iircd results. I.amp-burners re quire boiling at least once o, month. rlli3 oil tank ought not to be over full, and the neck oi the lamp must he wiped most carcfully every tinio before and after lighting. The o'il oo:'.cs into the cement round the col lar and exhales a detestable smell directly the lamp gets warm. In simple homes tlio duty of looking after the lamps should not devolve on the maid-of-a'1-work, who has not time to attend to them properly.

THE "SILENT S18TER8." There is a community of women near Biarritz; who pass thoir lives in silence. They live and die in the onvent of the Silent Sisters, and aro bured in silence in the little cemctery: within the walls of the grounds. At four o'clock, win ter and summer, they leave their bare cells, and for three unbroken hours tell their beads and say their prayers, until they aro summoned to their Spar tan breakfast. Two moro_ hours they spend, later in the day, with their ro saries and prayers in a secluded cor ner of the chapel, tho rest of the day being dovoted to work of various kinds and to meditation. In tho refectory—a dark, uninviting chamber with sanded floor, along which run wooden tallies and benches—the tables are spread for the midday meal, with an array of brown water-jugs and wooden spoons and forks displayed on coarse serviettes, which take tho, place of a tablecloth. During the meals not a sound is heard—a whisper even would be a grave offence bringing swift pen...

USEFUL BYE-PR0DUCT8. What Is Gained With the Saving Habit. By John II. Oskison. Credited to T. T. Hunger is tlio fol lowing:— "Tho habit of saving is itself an cd ducation. It fosters every virtue. It teaches self-denial. It cultivates a sense of ordor. It trains to fore thought, and so broadens the mind. It reveals the meaning of the word busi ness, which is something very differ ent from its routine." Self-denial, a sonse of order and fore thought aro .the very vitals of business success. They aro enough to win a modest success for anybody. They aro not hidden from tho sight of anybody, but lie within the reach of all. .And Mr. Hunger believes that by acquiring tho habit of saving you wiil get theso essentials as a by-product. Business success means simply using care to see that what conies in shall always bo a little more than what goes out. It means being euro that every dollar invested shall bring a few events more than a dollar ■within a reason ably short time. Very soon tho b...

POPULATION OF MEN. - There is a womanless republic on a peninsula south of Macedonia, in Greece, where 10,000 .men live, study ing and praying constantly, and where policemcn guard the course to keep out women pilgrims and other persons who would make undesir able guests. The place is Mount Athos—the Mount of the Twenty ; Monasteries—and was used in an cient times as a signalling sta- j tion to Asia Minor. It is a real republic. There are 10,000 monks there, who govern themselves without interference from Turkey or any other country. There arc, however, no government buildings, no president or other office-holders. The only po lice force is composed of men who patrol the coast to keep out women and men who have no permit to enter this most exclusive of coun tries. Only those who have a let ter of permission from the Greek patriarch in Constantinople are al lowed to enter the holy place. The holder of the letter must present it in Karges, the village capital of the peninsula. Some re...

A CUT FLOWER EXPRESS. A train which runs every day in Ihe year between Toulon and Paris i.; I no.vn as the '"rapide des fleurs" the cut Howcr express. The train carries nothing but cut (lowers in 1 ct.-; rn:!-pasteboard boxes lor the fa' i ■> n-arkct. The violets of liyrvrr;. tin roses and carnations ol •Antii.f:: and the Roman hyacinths o! ()ll:o::lc:; and Car&amp;lt;inieronnes • are or the iiov.ei- stands of Paris in 1? hours from the time they were j^row Tii,' un the shores of the Mediter ranean. A good many are shippec also to the cities of Germany and lid^imn, and even as far as Vienna and St. Petersburg. The packages are handled by a special train crew that sorts them out like mail mat ter. The speed at which this '►cut flower express" runs, is greater thai that of any other train' in Byrope.

DISTRICT NEWS. -.An interesting case was heard at the Branxholmo Police . Coui'fc on Monday, before Messrs. E. E. Williams, P.M., and A. Fenton, J.P. i'railk Millard tued Daniel Bromley, a -Morveil settler, foi tlio recovery pi £- !/• which lie , alleged was due lor work and labor done. The complainant conducted his ; own case, and Mr. J\ B. e^tacott; appeared for tbo defendant. 1 ho plain tilt's evidenco was to the effect that ho ' was engaged to work at tho same rate ; as the other employes on tlio i'ai'm, :lnd ; ' had worked nino and a half days, in cluding hours at potato planting, for which ho "claimed 1/ per hour. ]I0 left at an hour's notice, and wanted -2~>j and board for tlio week, and 1/ an hour for tho potato planting. In cross-examina t.ou iie denied giving a slip to defeud ;wit regarding his board. (Ju being pressed be said he did, and subsequently caid bo did not. The P.M. warned him to bo more careful in hi.-; answers. JJo had a reason for leaving, as he could not ...

o c7c ! of Large rlence Recommend f2 pfi jF bi^iiyy kSEjd I to "their PaiSents. NURSE CATHERINE KCDRTING of 176 Davis Street, Brunswick, Vic., writes as follows (29/2/12) : ! CLEMENTS TONIC LTD. j " I am writing al-oiu the j amount of good CLE1V1EMTS j ] TONIC has done my datish- | ter. In January lasL year, she was operated upon for j j appendicitis. She v. c.r, j j weeks in ihfc hespii?.!, and j: came home very weak and !: run down. I gave her several j ! hollies of Clements Tonic. i It soon strenrj'hcned her | nerves, she was as well as I !; could wish her before long, j i Fourteen years ago I first }; used this medicine as a nr.rcs ; j and have recommenced it ;&amp;lt; limes out cf nnn-ber. I have • seen people rcclcrcd to health ■', ! and slrenc'-', rr.d bless the j; | day they heard cl it. It I never laiicd to do good. j: CATHERINE KORTiNG." j1 '•ever 1e without this iiK'diruio if rm* '••vti, with Y\'t\»k Nc;vr:;. I';i&amp;lt; 1 I1 • • . 1" »r .-.p - t;ttr ««r &amp...

WHY THE CONTINENTS DO NOT SINK. A BUT THEY ARB ALWAYS SLIP PING INTO THE SEA. ?n a remarkable piece of work rar ] i ;1 out recently under the direct i&amp;lt; n o." I.'iof. John F. ll:iyfr>id, it barf : I;r-:n rhown that the material of | vliiih the continents are made and I that v.hich lies r.nd'jr tliem is I Y.-liter than that v.hich lies under iii-j oceans. This explains why the a.n'.in;nis do not sink though tlioy r.rj rxvcral miles higher than the • >c:r.n beds and exert enormous pres sures on the material beneath. 'i i'.e v. oi'I: of Prof. Hayford pro.'es ti).:t ihc total amount of matter in n column of &amp;lt;;ivcn sUe, reaching from tiu ta'ii'.-fancls of the continent Uj 10') iriles belov." the: surface of the ::a, 'is tlrj panic a? that of a : iv colur.:n reaching from tii-.' ;v.r.Vc of the occan to tho sa.:r.c ;! •• h. 1 h's rneans that the conti !•. are *1. !it«-r ih„u the ocean ; c&amp;lt;! ■. ;:n i t::;i' th:v are llcatinrr, as it v.'.:!', u;.on .ir.'...

THE SPRIHG'AWAKEPJING OF T53E SOIL. Two French scientists, who have made a special study of ths extra ordinary activity in the soil in springtime, recently reported to the Academy of Sciences that it is charac terised by an intense process of ni trification caused by bacteria which at that time, because of hereditary disposition., and independently oi conditions of temperature, develop a much more energetic- activity than at any other season of the year.